Best wifi Streamer

Hi

Not sure if this this should be in Hifi or Streaming, anyway.

I am considering venturing in to computer audio (just have CD right now). Unfortunately in my establishment the boss will not allow inmates :roll_eyes: to have an ethernet cable to run from the study where the telephone line is to my hifi room . So I have to have some streamer that will work well over wifi.

Auralic say they have put a lot of effort in to wifi streaming and they have the Auralic Aries 2.1 which I think is their best effort. Maybe it’s just marketing B.S. I don’t know.

For those that have compared wifi to a wired connection is there a big difference in sound quality? If the sacrifice is too much then perhaps I shouldn’t bother.

Many thanks for any replies.

Karl

I have tried Wi-Fi v Ethernet with both an Atom and a Nova. I thought each method had its own advantages but in the end I had a slight preference for Ethernet. However, the difference is small and I would happily use Wi-Fi if necessary. I think the Naim implementation of Wi-Fi is excellent

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Hi, can’t help with the streamer question but as a fellow CDS3 owner I know it will take a really good streamer wifi or otherwise to equal.

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Hi Lindsay M.

I agree with you.

Hifi dealers look at me all strange when I tell them how good the CDS3 is. When I listen on a top quality headphone system I do wonder what could be better. I remember when the CD555 came out and I borrowed a friend’s and I didn’t feel the need to rush out and buy one.

Steaming does have appeal in terms of being able to explore lots of music and convenience but sound quality needs to be high otherwise I can simply explore music on my phone and then buy the CD for music I like.

Karl

Thanks for your insights. That counts Naim in then :grinning:

We don’t have brilliant broadband and our tv is always losing wi fi connection. By comparison my nd5xs2 which I have had for 4 months has only been used via wi fi and so far I’ve experienced no problems using qobuz or internet radio. Never had buffering or drop out. I think this will be the same across all Naim streamers.

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To summarise the differences as I found them - Ethernet had a bit more ‘oomph’ but Wi-Fi had more ‘air’ and space and perhaps a bit more detail

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My Innuos is meant to be wired. Been a year pretty much to the day. Been using a cheap wireless bridge. I will do something about that at some point but I’ve not played so much music since I was a teenager.

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The current Naim streamers all use decent 802.11ac WiFi modules (unlike the 1st gen models which had poor wireless performance) so they should work reliably.
Remember that other components on the network can affect performance and reliability too, so if the router supplied by your ISP is mediocre (some are very good these days, others not so much) it may be worth investing in something better.

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No difference in audio quality bu the potential for connectivity and interference issues with wireless. I always recommend wired wherever possible.

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I agree that wired is usually a safer option for reliability, but it’s not immune to interference. Also WiFi reliability has improved a lot in the last few years, I suspect because it has to keep pace with the demands of faster internet connections and higher demands from an ever increasing number of connected devices.

In my trials with Atom and Nova I never experienced any issues with Wi-Fi reliability

Thanks to all of you for the replies. Well this inmate is very encouraged. If I do get a suitable
streamer I might be able to thread an ethernet cable around the walls one weekend when the boss is away and hope she doesn’t notice on her return :rofl:

One of the best pieces of advice I received from the Community was to set it up simply with wi fi and see how you get on. You can wire up and fiddle about later if you need to.

One addition. My Muso QB Gen1 suffered incidentally from dropouts over Wifi (as Murphy has it, always at the wrong moment of course) so I wired it which proved the perfect remedy. I would personally not recommend that one over wifi (not sure if these are still sold today). Reportedly, the Gen2 wifi is much improved. As for my Uniti Star, I was lucky enough to be able to use a spare PVC tube in the wall socket (originally meant for telephone) to run the 20m ethernet cable largely unseen for my better half from living room router to my study. So I never actually used Wifi on that one till this day.

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I think Naim still recommend wired where possible. I don’t have any 500 series kit but on my lowly Atom I can’t hear any difference, wired vs wireless.

Interestingly, Auralic’s head honcho Xuanqian Wang prefers wireless on the Aries streaming bridge whereas Linn’s streamers are wired only, I think.

Roger

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D line make very good trunking for hiding Ethernet cables.
Example below

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Only true for older generations of the Linn streamers.

It is worth upgrading the power supply on the Wi-Fi router / access point if Wi-Fi is to be the means of streaming access. First ensure the correct voltage and current specification on the proposed PS.

I use a Plixir 12v 4A PS that powers both my PlusNet modem/router and also my network server.

The Aries G2.1 and the Atom perform very well on WiFi, I use a wired connection because of the distance from the router (WiFi) and I avoid using Wi-Fi extenders for audio. My Qb2 is always on WiFi, Atom and Aries G2.1 usually have on wired/Ethernet.

I also have SBooster and Farad PS powering the two EE8 switches in my wired network environment- these improve SQ over the standard SMPS provided with my two EE8 switches.

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You took the words right out of my mouth :grin:

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